Give them no quarter: Arcata's first-half onslaught leads the way in second-round win over St. Mary's

ARCATA -- Whether or not the Tigers get to play another game in their home gym this season is still to be determined.

But if Saturday night was the last hurrah in their home whites, they went out in style.

In what head coach Allan Schmidt described as "probably our best first half all year," the Arcata boys basketball team raced out to a big first-quarter lead and never looked back, claiming a 76-48 win over St. Mary's in the second round of the North Coast Section Division 4 playoffs.

"Our defense set the tone," said senior guard Latrell Wilson, who scored a game-high 22 points against the Panthers. "Our intensity just led to buckets. If we want to beat Salesian, we're going to have to play two halves like we did tonight."

Indeed, the fourth-seeded Tigers, who improved to 24-6 on the season with the victory get the Pride -- D-4's top seed and the defending state champions -- up next on Wednesday night. Salesian (28-3) beat No. 8 Moreau Catholic 75-42 on Saturday night.

And to get another shot at Salesian -- who beat Arcata twice in the postseason a year ago -- the Orange and Black were immediately on the attack.

Every one of the Tigers' senior starting five -- Wilson, Will Taylor, Hawken Ritter, Cameron Wallace and Andrew DeHart -- had at least one basket during Arcata's 15-0 run to begin the game.

"It's tough (for opposing teams) because we have so many threats on offense," Wilson said. "It's just exciting to be a part of that kind of team."

And at the same time, the Panthers' offense was completely flummoxed by the Tigers' swarming D -- be it their 1-3-1 zone or simply man-to-man.

"The kids just executed (on defense)," Schmidt said. "We told them whether we were in our zone or in man that they had to play (St. Mary's) to drive. Our guys did everything we wanted them to do defensively."

Arcata only continued the onslaught to begin the game, as Wilson converted an old-school three-point play and then drilled a trey from the right corner to push the Tigers' lead to 32-4 midway through the second quarter.

The Panthers finally got into double digits thanks to an 11-2 burst -- six of those points coming from senior guard Jeremy Dennis, who matched Wilson's game-high of 22 points.

But once Taylor hit a tough baseline jumper and Jim Thomas swished in a 3-pointer from the left corner just before the halftime buzzer, the scoreboard said it all: Arcata 39, St. Mary's 15.

"The starters came to play tonight," Schmidt said. "And the guys who came off the bench contributed and just kept things going for us."

Along with Wilson, Taylor (17) and Wallace (10) all scored in double figures for the Tigers, while Ritter -- who hit a pair of 3-pointers -- finished with seven. Senior guard Sam Winter also added 10 points off the bench for Arcata.